Subdivision 1. Eligibility. (a) Each assistance unit
with income and resources less than the standard of assistance
established by the commissioner and with a member who is a
resident of the state shall be eligible for and entitled to
general assistance if the assistance unit is:

(1) a person who is suffering from a professionally
certified permanent or temporary illness, injury, or incapacity
which is expected to continue for more than 30 days and which
prevents the person from obtaining or retaining employment;

(2) a person whose presence in the home on a substantially
continuous basis is required because of the professionally
certified illness, injury, incapacity, or the age of another
member of the household;

(3) a person who has been placed in, and is residing in, a
licensed or certified facility for purposes of physical or
mental health or rehabilitation, or in an approved chemical
dependency domiciliary facility, if the placement is based on
illness or incapacity and is according to a plan developed or
approved by the county agency through its director or designated
representative;

(4) a person who resides in a shelter facility described in
subdivision 3;

(5) a person not described in clause (1) or (3) who is
diagnosed by a licensed physician, psychological practitioner,
or other qualified professional, as mentally retarded or
mentally ill, and that condition prevents the person from
obtaining or retaining employment;

(6) a person who has an application pending for, or is
appealing termination of benefits from, the Social Security
disability program or the program of supplemental security
income for the aged, blind, and disabled, provided the person
has a professionally certified permanent or temporary illness,
injury, or incapacity which is expected to continue for more
than 30 days and which prevents the person from obtaining or
retaining employment;

(7) a person who is unable to obtain or retain employment
because advanced age significantly affects the person's ability
to seek or engage in substantial work;

(8) a person who has been assessed by a vocational
specialist and, in consultation with the county agency, has been
determined to be unemployable for purposes of this clause; a
person is considered employable if there exist positions of
employment in the local labor market, regardless of the current
availability of openings for those positions, that the person is
capable of performing. The person's eligibility under this
category must be reassessed at least annually. The county
agency must provide notice to the person not later than 30 days
before annual eligibility under this item ends, informing the
person of the date annual eligibility will end and the need for
vocational assessment if the person wishes to continue
eligibility under this clause. For purposes of establishing
eligibility under this clause, it is the applicant's or
recipient's duty to obtain any needed vocational assessment;

(9) a person who is determined by the county agency,
according to permanent rules adopted by the commissioner, to be
learning disabled, provided that if a rehabilitation plan for
the person is developed or approved by the county agency, the
person is following the plan;

(10) a child under the age of 18 who is not living with a
parent, stepparent, or legal custodian, and only if: the child
is legally emancipated or living with an adult with the consent
of an agency acting as a legal custodian; the child is at least
16 years of age and the general assistance grant is approved by
the director of the county agency or a designated representative
as a component of a social services case plan for the child; or
the child is living with an adult with the consent of the
child's legal custodian and the county agency. For purposes of
this clause, "legally emancipated" means a person under the age
of 18 years who: (i) has been married; (ii) is on active duty
in the uniformed services of the United States; (iii) has been
emancipated by a court of competent jurisdiction; or (iv) is
otherwise considered emancipated under Minnesota law, and for
whom county social services has not determined that a social
services case plan is necessary, for reasons other than the
child has failed or refuses to cooperate with the county agency
in developing the plan;

(11) a person who is eligible for displaced homemaker
services, programs, or assistance under section 116L.96, but only
if that person is enrolled as a full-time student;

(12) a person who lives more than four hours round-trip
traveling time from any potential suitable employment;

(13) a person who is involved with protective or
court-ordered services that prevent the applicant or recipient
from working at least four hours per day;

(14) a person over age 18 whose primary language is not
English and who is attending high school at least half time; or

(15) a person whose alcohol and drug addiction is a
material factor that contributes to the person's disability;
applicants who assert this clause as a basis for eligibility
must be assessed by the county agency to determine if they are
amenable to treatment; if the applicant is determined to be not
amenable to treatment, but is otherwise eligible for benefits,
then general assistance must be paid in vendor form, for the
individual's shelter costs up to the limit of the grant amount,
with the residual, if any, paid according to section 256D.09,
subdivision 2a; if the applicant is determined to be amenable to
treatment, then in order to receive benefits, the applicant must
be in a treatment program or on a waiting list and the benefits
must be paid in vendor form, for the individual's shelter costs,
up to the limit of the grant amount, with the residual, if any,
paid according to section 256D.09, subdivision 2a.

(b) As a condition of eligibility under paragraph (a),
clauses (1), (3), (5), (8), and (9), the recipient must complete
an interim assistance agreement and must apply for other
maintenance benefits as specified in section 256D.06,
subdivision 5, and must comply with efforts to determine the
recipient's eligibility for those other maintenance benefits.

(c) The burden of providing documentation for a county
agency to use to verify eligibility for general assistance or
for exemption from the food stamp employment and training
program is upon the applicant or recipient. The county agency
shall use documents already in its possession to verify
eligibility, and shall help the applicant or recipient obtain
other existing verification necessary to determine eligibility
which the applicant or recipient does not have and is unable to
obtain.

Subd. 2. Use of federal funds. Effective March 31,
1998, notwithstanding any law to the contrary, if a single adult
or childless couple otherwise eligible for general assistance
would, but for state statutory restriction or limitation, be
eligible for a federally aided assistance program providing
benefits equal to or greater than those of general assistance,
the single adult or childless couple shall be eligible for that
federally aided program and ineligible for general assistance;
provided, however, that (a) nothing in this section shall be
construed to extend eligibility for federally aided programs to
persons not otherwise eligible for general assistance; (b) this
section shall not be effective to the extent that federal law or
regulation require new eligibility for federal programs to
persons not otherwise eligible for general assistance; and (c)
nothing in this section shall deny general assistance to a
person otherwise eligible who is determined ineligible for a
substitute federally aided program.

Subd. 4. Consent to review records. No person shall
be eligible for general assistance medical care unless the
person has authorized the commissioner of human services in
writing to examine all personal medical records developed while
receiving general assistance for the purpose of investigating
whether or not a vendor has submitted a claim for reimbursement,
a cost report or a rate application which the vendor knows to be
false in whole or in part, or in order to determine whether or
not the medical care provided was medically necessary. The
vendor of medical care shall receive notification from the
commissioner at least 24 hours before the commissioner gains
access to such records. A vendor of medical care shall require
presentation of this authorization before the state agency can
obtain access to such records unless the vendor already has
received written authorization. Notwithstanding any other law
to the contrary, a vendor of medical care shall not be subject
to any civil or criminal liability for providing access to
medical records to the commissioner pursuant to this subdivision.

Subd. 5. Transfers of property. The equity value of
real and personal property transferred without reasonable
compensation within 12 months preceding the date of application
for general assistance must be included in determining the
resources of an assistance unit in the same manner as in the
Minnesota family investment program under chapter 256J.

Subd. 6. Assistance for persons without a verified
residence. (a) For applicants or recipients of general
assistance or emergency general assistance who do not have a
verified residence address, the county agency may provide
assistance using one or more of the following methods:

(1) the county agency may provide assistance in the form of
vouchers or vendor payments and provide separate vouchers or
vendor payments for food, shelter, and other needs;

(2) the county agency may divide the monthly assistance
standard into weekly payments, whether in cash or by voucher or
vendor payment. Nothing in this clause prevents the county
agency from issuing voucher or vendor payments for emergency
general assistance in an amount less than the standards of
assistance;

(3) the county agency may determine eligibility and provide
assistance on a weekly basis. Weekly assistance can be issued
in cash or by voucher or vendor payment and can be determined
either on the basis of actual need or by prorating the monthly
assistance standard; and

(4) for the purposes of clauses (2) and (3), the county
agency may divide the monthly assistance standard as follows:
$50 per week for each of the first three weeks, and the
remainder for the fourth week.

(b) An individual may verify a residence address by
providing a driver's license; a state identification card; a
statement by the landlord, apartment manager, or homeowner
verifying that the individual is residing at the address; or
other written documentation approved by the commissioner.

(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 256D.06,
subdivision 1, if the county agency elects to provide assistance
on a weekly payment basis, the agency may not provide assistance
for a period during which no need is claimed by the individual
unless the individual has good cause for failing to claim need.
The individual must be notified, each time weekly assistance is
provided, that subsequent weekly assistance will not be issued
unless the individual claims need. The advance notice required
under section 256D.10 does not apply to weekly assistance that
is withheld because the individual failed to claim need without
good cause.

(d) The county agency may not issue assistance on a weekly
basis to an applicant or recipient who has professionally
certified mental illness or mental retardation or a related
condition, or to an assistance unit that includes minor
children, unless requested by the assistance unit.

Subd. 7. Ineligibility for general assistance. No
single adult or childless couple shall be eligible for general
assistance during a period of disqualification because of
sanctions.

Subd. 8. Citizenship. (a) Effective July 1, 1997,
citizenship requirements for applicants and recipients under
sections 256D.01 to 256D.03, subdivision 2, and 256D.04 to
256D.21 shall be determined the same as under section 256J.11.
The income and assets of sponsors of noncitizens shall be deemed
available to general assistance applicants and recipients
according to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996, Public Law 104-193, title IV,
sections 421 and 422, and subsequently set out in federal rules.

(b) As a condition of eligibility, each legal adult
noncitizen in the assistance unit who has resided in the country
for four years or more and who is under 70 years of age must:

(1) be enrolled in a literacy class, English as a second
language class, or a citizen class;

(2) be applying for admission to a literacy class, English
as a second language class, and is on a waiting list;

(3) be in the process of applying for a waiver from the
Immigration and Naturalization Service of the English language
or civics requirements of the citizenship test;

(4) have submitted an application for citizenship to the
Immigration and Naturalization Service and is waiting for a
testing date or a subsequent swearing in ceremony; or

(5) have been denied citizenship due to a failure to pass
the test after two attempts or because of an inability to
understand the rights and responsibilities of becoming a United
States citizen, as documented by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service or the county.

If the county social service agency determines that a legal
noncitizen subject to the requirements of this subdivision will
require more than one year of English language training, then
the requirements of clause (1) or (2) shall be imposed after the
legal noncitizen has resided in the country for three years.
Individuals who reside in a facility licensed under chapter
144A, 144D, 245A, or 256I are exempt from the requirements of
this section.